Ibrahima Podiogou vs Republic of Mali
On January 14th, 2019, Mister Ibrahima Podiogou and others (together the Applicants) filed an application instituting proceedings against the Republic of Mali (the defendant State) before the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (the ACHPR or the Court) for alleged violations of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Charter) in its article 15.
The applicants maintain that they were employed by Universal Prestation Services (UPS), which was responsible for subcontracting personnel and human resources, and had been made available to SOMILO SA Loulo. 301 people were dismissed on March 06th, 2009 for economic reasons. They claim that the sum paid in compensation for each of the workers had been embezzled and only 25 of the 301 persons had received the liquidation of some of their rights. Finally, they add that the UPS proceeded to dismiss the workers for economic reasons and then rehire the same workers while getting rid of the targeted trade unionists and other workers.
Considering that the national proceedings were not right, they brought proceedings before the ACHPR for alleged violations of their right to work.
Mali raised objections regarding the jurisdiction and inadmissibility of the Application. After examining the pleas in law, the Court held that it had jurisdiction to hear the case. With regard to admissibility, it examined in turn all the criteria listed in Rule 50 of the Rules of Court and concluded that the application was inadmissible as domestic remedies had not been exhausted at the time of the institution of the proceedings.
This summary is provided for informational purposes only, does not involve the responsibility of Dome and should in no way be used as a substitute for a careful reading of the judgment and order of the case.
